Kenya: Plans by some Machakos county government officials to expel doctors who don’t hail from the region are alarming. So is the interference by non-medics in the treatment of patients.
These are the kind of reports that Kenyans hope are not true. Unfortunately, the source of the reports is impeccable. The alarm has been raised by no less than the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union Secretary General, Sultani Matendechero.
He also termed the practice demeaning to doctors and pointed out that they are receiving these orders even before governors and Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) take full control of the health sector.
These, and similar reports in a few other counties, are fuelling resignations that have seen the number of doctors in the public service drop from 4,000 to 3,500. More resignations can be expected in the coming months.
The practice also underlines the growing resistance among a cross section of health personnel to plans to devolve the payment of their salaries and their terms of service to the counties.
Indeed, so vehemently are the health professionals opposed to the devolution of their functions from the national to the county level that they issued a 21-day strike notice on November 5, which will end later this week. A paralysis of public health institutions is on the cards unless an agreement is reached sooner rather than later.
But more to the point, surely, it is not too hard to understand that the country suffers from a serious shortage of health-care professionals and the few available are overworked and underpaid. The result is that few doctors, for example, remain in the public service after their internship period is ended.
A visit to the more affluent parts of Johannesburg, South Africa, provides a unwelcome reminder of how easily Kenyan health professionals leave home in search of greener pastures. But with the kind of treatment the doctors are reportedly being subjected to in Machakos County, who can blame them for leaving?
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